updated 06:05 pm EDT, Fri March 26, 2010

Apple settles possible dispute with deal

Apple has quietly but quickly resolved a possible trademark dispute with Fujitsu by successfully negotiating the rights to the iPad name. A USPTO filing showed that the iPad trademark was transferred over to Apple on March 17th. The American company had tried to legally force the switch after Fujitsu had technically abandoned the trademark last year but appears to have settled the matter early.

None of the terms involved in the handover were mentioned in the filing, but Apple's repeated requests for delays in its own submissions suggest it may have been trying to negotiate payments rather than enter a protracted fight.

Fujitsu was technically the first to actually use the iPad label, describing a Windows CE-based handheld computer for workers, but it had ceased defending the trademark roughly six years after the first shipping product appeared. Apple has only been trying to secure the name since roughly last year but could potentially have pointed out the deliberate similarity to "iPod" in its defense. [viapatentauthority]